Massachusetts’ first branch of the national veterinary chain Livewell Animal Hospital is slated to open November 2 on Harvard Street.
Livewell’s parent company, Mission Pet Health, partners with local veterinarians to give them the business backing to operate local animal hospitals. The 481 Harvard St. location, previously occupied by Massage Envy, is the company’s 50th clinic overall and 17th new one this year. Livewell’s four oldest clinics, which opened in 2023, are in Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Beth Waisburd, founding veterinarian of the new hospital, said Livewell owns the clinic, “but they give veterinarians the trust and latitude to create something based on their goals.”
“I have both human children and animals in my life,” Waisburd said. “I recognize the difference between the two, but I also recognize that animals are part of the family.”
Waisburd was formerly the senior managing veterinarian at both the Brookline and Newton Centre branches of Small Door Veterinary. The Brookline office is about a half-mile down the street from the new Livewell.
“This move was really centered around the fact that I’ve always had the dream of having something of my own that I could create from the ground up,” Waisburd said. She said she had a great experience at Small Door, and the decision to leave was motivated by the chance to head up the new clinic on her own.
Waisburd is approaching her 30th year in veterinary work and has been a Brookline vet and resident for nearly two decades.
Massachusetts’ second Livewell location is already in the works, said Ellen Chandler, a marketing manager for Livewell. A Framingham animal hospital is scheduled to open around the new year.
“We’re happy to plant a flag and really make a difference in the lives of pets and pet parents in the community,” Chandler said. “There are amazing veterinarians out there who have the medical knowledge and the drive and the passion to run their own hospital but they don’t have all the resources. Our goal is to remove those barriers.”
Hospital services will include routine care, an online pharmacy and emergency services. The hospital has dental and surgical suites equipped for emergencies and standard procedures like neutering and spaying.
Pet owners can call the hospital once it opens to schedule an appointment, or visit the hospital’s website to join the waitlist, Chandler said. The office will reach out to pet owners on the waitlist once online booking opens up.
Waisburd said she cares for clients’ pets as if they were her own. “I want to honor that bond between people and pets,” she said. The vet has a pit bull and boxer mix named George, a cat with 21 toes named Edward, and a horse named Remy.
Three other vet clinics and animal hospitals operate in Brookline. An employee at VCA Brookline Animal Hospital said their office works with other animal hospitals toward the same goal, so it’s “not a big deal” that a new clinic is opening. Small Door and Boston Veterinary Clinic did not return calls from Brookline.News.
Rachael Sprague, who will manage Livewell’s Brookline hospital, said it will continuously collect pet food donations for local shelters, offer discounted medical exams to rescued pets, and partner with Gifford Cat Shelter and Last Hope K9 Rescue to offer resources and to help get their animals adopted.
“We want to be part of Brookline and not just some business on a corner that does transactions,” Sprague said. “The coolest part of medicine is that we get to do something quite magical in people’s lives by taking care of, most of the time, the things they value most in this world.”